Whole Foods plans $2.8M remodel for Baseline store in Boulder

Project slated for completion in early 2014

By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer

Posted:
11/20/2013 06:13:42 PM MST

Whole Foods Market is giving another one of its Boulder groceries a makeover.

The Austin, Texas-based natural foods grocer expects to spend close to $3 million in overhauling the interior and exterior of its store at 2584 Baseline Road in the Basemar Shopping Center near Broadway.

Building permits recently approved by the city of Boulder show plans to reconfigure the layout of the store, add new fixtures and sections, modify the exterior and entrance, and increase interior and exterior seating. The interior floor plans are similar in layout to existing Whole Foods stores in the region and the exterior modifications resemble the storefront style of Whole Foods' store at 2905 Pearl St.

Contractors on the Baseline project gave an estimated valuation of $2.8 million for the 16,668-square-foot interior remodel.

Whole Foods officials declined to be interviewed and instead provided a statement to the Daily Camera.

"We're pleased to announce we'll be remodeling our Baseline store to provide an even better shopping experience for customers visiting this unique location," according to and emailed statement attributed to Ben Friedland, an executive marketing coordinator for Whole Foods. "We love serving the community of south Boulder and are tailoring this store to reflect the community and its needs."

The remodel is slated for completion in February, Friedland added, noting that Whole Foods plans to provide updates through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

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The Baseline grocery would be the third Whole Foods location in Boulder to receive a facelift within the past five years.

Whole Foods has owned the 2584 Baseline Road store since 2007 when the grocer acquired the Boulder-bred Wild Oats Markets Inc. in a $565 million deal that was heavily contested by the Federal Trade Commission. The Baseline store was Wild Oats' first location.

Since the acquisition, the Baseline store had a couple different potential fates.

Whole Foods officials initially said they considered converting the location into a Whole Foods Market Express, an experimental concept with a "value-oriented product mix" and more grab-and-go offerings.

Officials later scrapped the Market Express plans and said the store would be operated as a Whole Foods grocery.

In 2008, as Whole Foods moved forward with a remodel of Ideal Market, the 1275 Alpine Ave. grocery acquired in the Wild Oats deal, the chain's regional president said a similar remodel of the Baseline store was up in the air as negotiations were ongoing for a lease extension.

In 2009, the Basemar store was put on the sales block as the result of a settlement between the FTC and Whole Foods in which the grocer agreed to try to sell 32 locations. Among those 32 was another Boulder market with deep roots in the city's natural products industry: the 1651 Broadway location that served as the first location for the original Alfalfa's Market.

The store off Broadway and Arapahoe Avenue became a Wild Oats after a 1996 merger between the two Boulder-bred natural foods chains.

Whole Foods eventually received "good faith offers" for both Boulder stores, the FTC said in the fall of 2009. Bo Sharon, operator of the locally owned Lucky's Markets, said at the time that he was in negotiations to purchase the Baseline location.

However, at the end of the divestiture period, the only local store to change hands was 1651 Broadway. The store was acquired by A-M Holdings LLC, an entity formed by local natural products veterans who aimed to resurrect the Alfalfa's grocery store concept.

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